NanoBITES captures those small but important morsels of gaming information that otherwise might slip between the cracks.

ITEM! The studio founded by senior World of Warcraft developer Mark Kern has announced its inaugural project. Firefall is Red 5’s ambitious MMO style shooter set in a post apocalyptic future. Scheduled for release in late 2011, Firefall will adopt the free-to-play model favoured by many modern online games.

ITEM! Independent Czech studio Amanita Design has announced that its robot themed point-and-click adventure Machinarium is on its way to WiiWare. The PC original was among the more celebrated indie releases of 2009.

ITEM! Heavy Rain will soon be added to the list of games compatible with Sony’s motion sensing Move peripheral. A software patch will update existing copies of the game in September and a special edition disc will arrive in stores in October.

ITEM! The Halo: Reach launch has encountered some turbulence. As reported by GameSpot, Microsoft is working to resolve an issue preventing owners of the recently released 4GB Xbox 360 model from accessing the game’s co-op mode.

ITEM! TimeGate Studios has revealed that it is working on a sequel to Section 8, its high flying multiplayer shooter from 2009. Section 8: Prejudice will feature an expanded single player component. Platforms are yet to be announced but TimeGate is aiming for a 2011 release.

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The Captain’s hairdresser paid a high price for his ineptitude.

Swedish developer Keldyn Interactive has announced that it will soon clamber aboard the increasingly crowded (and presumably rather smelly) zombie bandwagon. Dead Meets Lead looks to be a fast paced arcade shooter in the vein of Burn Zombie Burn, Zombie Apocalypse and Age of Zombies.

Fortunately Dead Meets Lead boasts at least one point of originality, its setting.  The action begins on a remote island in the 18^th century. As a shipwrecked British naval officer, you’ll battle the island’s undead inhabitants with bible, sword and blunderbuss, which history tells us you would have done even if the locals were alive and well.

The game sounds reasonably promising , but surely there is already more than enough competition for your undead dollar? When you can’t even gallop through an open world western without being attacked by hungry ghouls, it may be time to bypass the graveyard in favour of… oh, I don’t know… a new idea?

Keldyn is yet to announce a release date for Dead Meets Lead.

Twisted Metal? Nah, mate. Never heard of it.

You’ve certainly done your bit to reduce the zombie population in recent years, mowing down thousands of the blighters in the likes of Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising and even Call of Duty: World at War. Unfortunately, the development community just keeps adding to the problem. Activision is responsible for the latest outbreak, announcing Blood Drive, a car combat game set in world dominated by the undead.

You’ll roar through post apocalyptic cities in a heavily modified hotrod, churning through zombies with mounted guns or crushing them beneath your wheels. You’ll also need to keep an eye out for your fellow drivers, who are just as intent on murdering you, if not more so. In a premise not dissimilar to the multiplayer component of Dead Rising 2, the entire exercise is for the benefit of a fictional game show audience. Up to four players can participate in the carnage.

Blood Drive is scheduled for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in November 2010.

After more than a decade in hibernation, the galaxy spanning RTS that made Blizzard a household name in South Korea is back. Once again, you’ll be asked to step into the well worn combat boots of renegade marshal Jim Raynor. Though haunted by the loss of compatriot Sarah Kerrigan, a little arm twisting will see you resume your mission to dismantle the corrupt Terran Confederacy and defend humanity from the technologically advanced Protos and numerically gifted Zerg. Read the rest of this entry »